A Fair Sayhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 15:52:53 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/858e698801d6b74dbbb43f1284e2e615?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngA Fair Sayhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk
Adrian Smith RIPhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/02/07/adrian-smith-rip/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/02/07/adrian-smith-rip/#respondWed, 07 Feb 2018 13:14:00 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4545Continue reading →]]>We are sad to report that Adrian Smith, a long-standing member of Church Action on Poverty’s Council of management, passed away recently. Rose Tyrrell, who served as a trustee alongside Adrian, wrote this memorial for him.

In Memory of an amazing friend and colleague

Six words to describe Adrian:

A arbitrator

D dedicated

R resilient

I intelligent

A active

N nurturing.

This is how we see Adrian, he was also loving and caring and the best friend anyone could have.

He is going to be missed so much, by family I am sure,

Friends I am certain,

By colleagues most definitely.

He always know when I was not well and would keep on at me to get seen to by the hospital without regard for himself.

His faith was strong and he always wanted social justice for the poorer in society.

Hence his many years with Church Action on Poverty.

Farewell our friend, you leave us broken hearted but our hearts will mend in time.

We love you and will never forget you.

Goodbye, God take you in his loving arms to live your eternal life in peace and love. Amen

]]>https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/02/07/adrian-smith-rip/feed/0churchpovertyAdrian-SmithVoices from the Marginshttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/26/voices-from-the-margins-2/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/26/voices-from-the-margins-2/#respondFri, 26 Jan 2018 09:05:53 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4537Continue reading →]]>With Church Action on Poverty Sunday approaching on 11 February, our Director Niall Cooper says that as Christians, our challenge is to hear, value and amplify the voices of those at the margins of society.

“If we want to help change history and promote real development, we need to hear the cry of the poor and commit ourselves to ending their marginalisation.”

Pope Francis

Much of Church Action on Poverty’s work is rooted in simply listening to the stories and experience of those who live feel marginalised by living in poverty in 21st century Britain.

“See me as an individual, a person, a human being. Don’t think because I’m on benefits you can judge me or make your mind up about me without talking to me.”

“I’m made to feel like a second-class citizen. I’m made to feel embarrassed, ashamed. I’m made to feel unentitled to benefits. Recognise we don’t claim benefits through choice but through need and circumstance.”

The media is certainly complicit in this. A 2014 study of 10 major media outlets found that only 4% of articles about poverty gave significant space to the voices of people in poverty. More troublingly, researchers have also found that misleading news coverage of poverty and the benefits system actually prevents thousands of people from claiming vital social security benefits, with up to one in four eligible people either delaying or failing to make a benefits claim because of the perceived stigma attached to doing so.

But are we any better in the churches? There is a lot we can learn from hearing voices from the margins, the cries of those who have been marginalised in our society.

As Lilla Watson, an Aboriginal woman, said more than 25 years ago:

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Take Patrick Philpot, a Salford resident, on and off, for nearly 50 years, who has not always had an easy life. In 2016 he left prison with £4.20 and did not receive any benefits for 16 weeks. He went to a food bank and a breakfast drop-in centre, and there, through Church Action on Poverty, became a member of the Salford Poverty Truth Commission. Through the Commission, Patrick has been able to share his twin passions for faith and politics, and draw on his own personal experience of life at the margins to help make a positive contribution to the life of the city – working with a range of civic and business leaders to come up with new ideas to tackle poverty across Salford.

“I had been out of mainstream society for a long time, and I was watching the approach the group took. I saw a group that had potential to have an influence in different areas of society, and they started knocking on doors gently. You can feel the love growing in the group, and see people’s commitment. It’s very simple and it’s what’s lacking, not just in relation to poverty but in British society – simple love and understanding.”

Of course God is already at the margins, listening to those voices we have not heard or wanted to hear. St Francis of Assisi, inspiration to Pope Francis and many others, learned this lesson long ago through an encounter with a leper, a person such as he had formerly feared and shunned, but now embraced. It was truly a liberating experience for Francis to discover his brotherhood with this marginalised child of God.

But for Patrick, the reason to be involved is much more simple:

“I honestly believe social care is just about Christian values – not theology or doctrine, but just unconditional love, kindness, compassion and humility. We can’t all have ten jobs and four careers. The truth is, people in poverty must be understood and respected and we have a moral obligation as human beings, if we see someone less fortunate, to say ‘I can lend a hand’.”

So what are your plans to listen to – and amplify – the voices of those on the margins where you are?

Voices from the Margins is the theme for Church Action on Poverty Sunday, 12 February 2018. Download prayer, liturgy and other resources at www.church-poverty.org.uk/sunday

]]>https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/26/voices-from-the-margins-2/feed/0churchpovertyNiall Cooper April 201240d112e34f926bf957a6c6ef7d4dd754ppVoices from the Margins logo no straplineStep Up to the Platehttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/22/step-up-to-the-plate/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/22/step-up-to-the-plate/#commentsMon, 22 Jan 2018 14:12:14 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4541Continue reading →]]>In our new report, we call on the Government to establish a Food and Poverty Strategy for the UK.

Step Up to the Plate is the latest piece of detailed research to back up Church Action on Poverty’s work to End Hunger in the UK. We produced the report jointly with Dr Hannah Lambie-Mumford, a food policy expert at the University of Sheffield.

In the report, we outline the growing problem of household food insecurity; explain why charitable responses are not enough; highlight the failure of current government policy to respond to the crisis; and explain how the government could step up to the plate and take responsibility for ending hunger in the UK.

We call for five key steps:

Appoint a minister or department charged with responsibility for coordinating a policy response across government, which also takes into account the role of local government, the devolved administrations, civil society and business.

Measure household food insecurity each year, by adopting and using the internationally agreed definition of household food insecurity.

Free people from the threat of food insecurity. Government should build a vision to ensure people can access and enjoy food in socially acceptable ways, not just today but next week and next month. Policy should address not only food crisis and minimum diets, but vulnerability, social acceptability and inclusion. Solutions need to be broad, ambitious and include all stakeholders.

Listen to people with first-hand experience of hunger and use their experiences, as well as informed research, as the basis for policy. This would bring to the forefront of policy design the lived experiences of household food insecurity and frontline experiences of responding to them; as well as drawing on the increasing amounts of research on household food insecurity and need for emergency food provision.

Lead the way in ending hunger and household food insecurity. What is needed is a strong and effective universal and entitlement-based approach, ensuring everyone can eat well and participate fully. To achieve this, government will need to play a leadership role – bringing all stakeholders together but taking ultimate responsibility.

Dr Hannah Lambie-Mumford says:

“This report sets out why it is so important that we have a government-led strategy on food and poverty in the UK. Relying on charities to plug the gaps when people cannot access enough food to feed themselves and their families is unsustainable. A comprehensive policy strategy is urgently required to ensure genuine progress begins to be made towards making secure access to food for all a reality.”

]]>https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/22/step-up-to-the-plate/feed/1churchpovertyStep-Up-to-the-Plate-fullEnd-Hunger-logoRead all about it! We make the paperhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/12/read-all-about-it-we-make-the-paper/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/12/read-all-about-it-we-make-the-paper/#respondFri, 12 Jan 2018 14:45:30 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4533Continue reading →]]>

See what we had to say about food poverty in Greater Manchester.

THOUSANDS of people in and around Manchester learned this week about our ongoing work to tackle hunger.

The Manchester Evening News, which sells around 41,000 print copies a day, recently published two detailed articles about food poverty in Salford, one looking at the city’s food bank, and another at a new pantry project.

Prompted by the reports, our director Niall Cooper sent this letter, which was printed as the lead letter in the paper on Monday 8 January.

We must tackle the root causes of poverty

Thank you Beth Abbit and Jennifer Williams for thorough and informative reports on Salford Food Bank and the Emmaus Pantry in Salford respectively (M.E.N., December 23 and 28).

Both reports give useful snapshots of the food poverty that is prevalent on our doorstep, and the commendable work being done by local people to help their neighbours. The testimonies from those who have personal experience of poverty, all too often overlooked, were very powerful.

We are helping to set up more pantries across the country, including in Greater Manchester, working closely with emergency food providers and helping local communities to develop their own projects to reduce food poverty.

As well as responding to the need, however, we must tackle the root causes of food poverty and food insecurity, to prevent such widespread poverty and destitution arising.

The End Hunger UK campaign sets out nine ideas that would help, and in the next three weeks, Parliament will discuss two of those: a bill to end holiday hunger, and another to introduce annual measurement of food insecurity.

These bills could help make 2018 a turning point in the fight against hunger in the UK, and we hope Greater Manchester’s MPs will lend their support to both.

Niall Cooper, director, Church Action on Poverty, Salford

]]>https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/12/read-all-about-it-we-make-the-paper/feed/0collage3gavinaaitchisonIMG_3096[1]Celebrate what food banks do – but demand action from government on hungerhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/08/celebrate-what-food-banks-do-but-demand-action-from-government-on-hunger/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/08/celebrate-what-food-banks-do-but-demand-action-from-government-on-hunger/#respondMon, 08 Jan 2018 13:21:47 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4530Continue reading →]]>The Right Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester, wrote this blog for End Hunger UK.

I am both amazed and shocked by the growth of food banks in the UK – amazed by the generosity of so many volunteers and donors, but shocked that this is necessary in a country as wealthy as ours.

In the Diocese of Gloucester, Stroud District Foodbank alone has distributed around 1,860 food parcels in the past year from five centres, with the help of 50 churches and 130 volunteers – just one of at least nine food banks doing similar work across Gloucestershire and the surrounding areas. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. We know that many more people are living on cheap food, much of it unhealthy, or skipping meals, because they are too ashamed to visit a food bank.

Whilst celebrating the work that churches and other voluntary groups are doing to respond to this urgent need, it is clear to me that government and businesses could and should be doing more to reduce the need for food banks in the first place.

That is why I am delighted that the Church of England is supporting the End Hunger UK campaign, alongside a diverse coalition of voluntary sector organisations and faith groups. The campaign’s menu of recommendations are extremely practical. Many of them could be implemented at relatively little cost, but would make a real and immediate difference – for example funding local schemes so that children do not go hungry during the school holidays. Other recommendations will require more concerted and longer-term action to ensure that people are paid a decent wage and that there is an adequate safety net to support people during difficult times in their life, such as an illness or the breakdown of a relationship. If we are to eradicate food insecurity, then we must commit to these shared goals – and we need to start measuring the scale of the problem, so we can see the progress that is being made.

Campaigning for these changes is, I believe, as much a response to the Christian calling to ‘feed the hungry’ as meeting people’s immediate needs through food banks. I will be writing to the local MPs in my diocese, asking them to support this campaign. Will you join me?

In the city where school meals first began, we looked at an under-reported aspect of holiday hunger.

Much has been said and written about holiday hunger in the past year or so. But the problem is nothing new.

School meals were introduced in Britain in 1907, with the first ones being served in Bradford. Almost immediately, there were calls to support poor families during the holidays as well, and the issue has been raised in Parliament dozens of times since.

]]>https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2018/01/03/end-hunger-uk-campaign-in-the-news/feed/0IMG_5255gavinaaitchisonIMG_3096[1]2018 : the year to End UK Hungerhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2017/12/29/2018-the-year-to-end-uk-hunger/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2017/12/29/2018-the-year-to-end-uk-hunger/#respondFri, 29 Dec 2017 09:00:34 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4504Continue reading →]]>Let’s make 2018 the year to End Hunger in the UK

Together, we can build a society in which everyone has access to good food and no one need go to bed hungry.

Churches, food banks and a huge range of community food projects mobilise a network of thousands of volunteers across the UK. We’re passionate about solving this issue, but we know that voluntary action alone isn’t enough. We need long-term solutions to hunger and poverty.

In a country as wealthy as ours, it is perfectly possible for families to be able to afford good food on a regular basis, and to ensure that children can live free from the damaging impacts of hunger on their health, attainment and opportunity.

Whilst celebrating the work that churches and other voluntary groups are doing to respond to this urgent need, it is clear to me that government and businesses could and should be doing more to reduce the need for food banks in the first place.Right Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester

All we need is the political will to do so.

That’s why Church Action on Poverty has come together with a range of other charities – Trussell Trust, Fareshare, Oxfam, Child Poverty Action Group – and the main Churches across the UK – to launch the End Hunger UK campaign.

During the past few months we’ve started to build some really good momentum: We had a great campaign conference in October; have been part of winning a significant concession on Universal Credit in the Budget last month; started to build up some really successful local campaigns and established productive relationships with MPs on a cross-party basis both locally and nationally.

We’ve got some really great opportunities early in the New Year with two Private Members Bills and other work planned in relation to our key menu of asks.

But imagine what would happen if just a fraction of the vast army of people involved in running foodbanks, breakfast clubs, community cafes, cooking classes, community allotments put their energy behind a campaign to tackle the root causes of food poverty and hunger in the UK for the next year.

You can help make it happen! Ask your church or foodbank to Pledge to take action in support of the End Hunger UK campaign in 2018. Email your MP about holiday hunger. Donate to the campaign. And work with us through the year.

Together, let’s make 2018 the year to End Hunger in the UK.

Best wishes

Niall Cooper
Director
Church Action on Poverty

]]>https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2017/12/29/2018-the-year-to-end-uk-hunger/feed/0niallcoopericon_logo-01Rachel TreweekNiall Cooper April 2012Opening up the Pantryhttps://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2017/12/22/opening-up-the-pantry/
https://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/2017/12/22/opening-up-the-pantry/#respondFri, 22 Dec 2017 09:05:14 +0000http://blog.church-poverty.org.uk/?p=4522Continue reading →]]>We launched ‘Your Local Pantry’ as a social franchise on 7 December. Our Business Development Officer Dave Nicholson explains how Pantries will help tackle food poverty and the Poverty Premium.

We are delighted that we can now provide the tools for communities to set up their own Pantries – helping local people avoid crisis point by offering them a reliable and good-quality food resource at minimal cost.

We have talked about Pantries on the blog before, as we worked to develop the idea into a franchise. We’ve seen the impact that they can have, freeing up people’s budgets by offering them 10 grocery items for a membership fee of just £2.50 per week. Pantries strengthen communities and also offer volunteering opportunities.

Now Your Local Pantry is a franchise. Any community group that wants to tackle food poverty and high food prices in their area can get the tools to set up a Pantry.

For an initial fee of £2,500 and an annual membership fee of £900–£1,250, franchisors will get everything they need to set up and run a Pantry:

Pantry Handbook: a comprehensive manual giving step by-step instructions to guide you through setting up and operating a Pantry.

Church Action on Poverty has this week teamed up with one of England’s biggest regional newspapers, to help tell the truth about poverty.

We worked with the editorial team at The Northern Echo, to illustrate the root causes of poverty, the human impact, the cuts to the welfare safety net, and also the pioneering approaches to ending poverty at a local level.

We believe these stories should be heard, so please help us ensure they get the audience they deserve. You can read the various articles at the links below:

We spent several months visiting people and groups around the North East, building trust and listening to the issues and stories they felt were too often overlooked. We also worked with the Northern Echo to research some of the political situation, using the Freedom of Information Act. In doing so, we discovered wide variations in council practices around the region, meaning that people living just a few miles apart could have access to vastly different levels of crisis support. Our work was supported by statistics from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, broken down to local levels within the North East.

On Wednesday and Thursday, poverty and our work were literally front page news, meaning tens of thousands of people across the North East will have gained a better understanding of poverty.

We are very grateful to all the people who shared their stories for this project.

The interviews were carried out by Gavin Aitchison, our poverty media unit coordinator, who was previously a newspaper journalist in York.

He said: “Understandably, people are sometimes reluctant to talk about their own poverty, and building trust takes time.

“Cuts to local media mean many editors and news editors, who naturally want to explore big issues in depth, don’t have the resources they once did to do so. By working together, we and the Northern Echo were able to tell stories that ought to be told, and put them in context through statistical evidence and our own research.”

In 2018, we hope to carry out similar joint pieces of work with other media outlets interested in truly understanding and highlighting the changing nature of poverty in their area. If you are a journalist, and are interested in discussing this, please email gavin@church-poverty.org.uk

Food Power is a new initiative from Church Action on Poverty, in partnership with Sustain. Our aim is to support the development of more coordinated, long-term and sustainable approaches to tackling food poverty in local communities. We will tailor the approaches to different urban and rural environments, and to the increasingly divergent policy contexts across the four nations.

It is a four-year programme that will work with local communities to strengthen their ability to reduce food poverty, with the support of their peers from other communities. We will establish and support ‘food poverty alliances’ that respond to food poverty and its root causes; amplify the voices of people experiencing food poverty; and evaluate and share what works well. The programme includes four main work streams:

Supporting local food poverty alliances: We will build capacity and facilitate sharing of experiences between communities. The programme will have local empowerment at its core. Following clear demand, we will work with a network of local peer mentors to help other local areas to establish food poverty alliances or networks, secure resources to turn commitments into reality, and develop local action plans.

Learning and sharing good practice: At the heart of this programme is the exchange of ideas and learning, facilitated by programme staff, but equally through peer-to-peer learning across the network. All those involved in the programme will be part of co-producing information and resources. We will provide the national infrastructure and coordination to facilitate active sharing and learning, including through face-to-face visits, written and other resources and an annual conference.

Involving experts by experience: We will support the active engagement of individuals within the programme who have experienced food poverty. We will pilot models of involvement and support local areas to develop their practice in this area through a combination of capacity-building training, mentoring and resources.

Evidencing what works at the local level: We will also assist local areas to evidence the impact of their work, including offering advice and support on robust monitoring and evaluation methodologies and piloting specific evaluation models.

From here at Church Action on Poverty, I will be leading on involving experts by experience in local alliances across the network, as well as overseeing peer mentoring.

If you’re involved in a network tackling food poverty in your area, and you want to have a bigger impact on the root causes of food poverty, Food Power may be able to help you!